Ten days before the end of his mandate, the US government of Donald Trump announced on Sunday evening, January 10, that it would put the Houthi rebels in Yemen on its blacklist of groups. “Terrorists” Three Houthi leaders are also blacklisted, including their main leader Abdel Malek Al-Houthi.
US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo said he would notify Congress of the move, in order to strengthen the “Deterrence against the harmful activities of the Iranian regime”, support of the Yemeni rebel group against the government supported by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, Washington’s ally. These sanctions will come into effect on January 19, the day before the President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, takes office.
These sanctions are aimed at holding the Houthis, who control the capital Sana’a and much of northern Yemen, “For those responsible for their terrorist acts, in particular for cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure and maritime transport”Mike Pompeo said in a statement released overnight.
The announcement was expected since the presidential election on November 3 in the United States. Several non-governmental organizations and international institutions feared that the defeated President Trump would seek to strike a diplomatic blow against Iran, his sworn enemy in the Middle East, before Joe Biden arrived at the White House , who wishes to resume dialogue with Tehran.
According to these organizations, this decision risks causing a paralysis of the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen. Having contacts with Houthi officials, managing taxes, using the banking system, paying medical personnel, buying food and oil… all of this risks being hampered by such an American measure.
Yemen under “imminent threat of the world’s worst famine”
After more than five years of war, Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula where 80% of the population now depends on international aid, is already in the grip of what the UN has called the worst crisis humanitarian aid to the world.
Over the country hovers the “Imminent threat of the worst famine the world has known in decades”, warned, at the end of November, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, urging Washington to “Do not rock the boat”.
These calls were therefore only very partially heard by the Trump administration, determined to the end to go against the international consensus and play the unilateral card.
“The United States recognizes that there are concerns about the impact these designations will have on the humanitarian situation in Yemen”, said Mike Pompeo. “We plan to put in place measures to reduce their impact on certain humanitarian activities and imports”, he added. The scope of the exemptions that will be granted, in this sense, will therefore be closely scrutinized.
Presenting his government’s strategy as encouraging efforts to reach a solution “Peaceful”, the outgoing Secretary of State assured to be ready “To work with United Nations officials and with international and non-governmental organizations” to minimize the consequences on the population.
“The statements of this man no longer have any meaning”
While the threat loomed, the Houthis had estimated in November that Donald Trump did not have the right to make such a decision after losing the presidential election. “The election is over and someone else won. (…) The statements of this man no longer have any meaning “, said Sultan Al-Samee, vice-president of the Political Council of Ansarullah, the name of the Houthi movement. “If he designates Ansarullah as a terrorist, it will come from an incompetent person who is going completely nuts”, he had hammered.
Great ally of Washington in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia has already classified the Houthis as a group “Terrorist” in 2014, before taking the head in March 2015 of a coalition supporting the Yemeni government against the rebels.
